I’m one of those mean moms. I am making my daughter wait until she is 11 to get her ears pierced. So of course she is obsessed with earrings and wishes she could have them now.
I’m sticking to my guns.
But I was totally okay with letting her doll get pierced ears. We don’t have an actual American Girl doll… they are too expensive! We got this pretty Journey Girl doll from Toys R Us for much cheaper, and my daughter loves it just as much as the much pricier name brand. I imagine that what you are about to witness will work on any kind of 18 inch doll.
My husband got out his smallest drill bit. It was really, really, small… like, the smallest size they make. Then he carefully drilled straight down into the ear lobe where we wanted the hole to be.
Bam! Just like that, the doll has pierced ears! I hope it’s that painless when my daughter gets her ears done. Yeah right.
I found some old studs and let my daughter have at ’em. Just another fun little accessory for her doll!
If you’re having trouble with the earrings staying in, try putting just a tiny bit of hot glue on the post so that they are a bit thicker and grippier.
Comments & Reviews
When I was a child, I used to pierce my dolls ears with a pin. I agree with you about piercing baby girls ears. Good surgery job with the doll! And nice blog! 🙂
Thank you for showing this, I wondered if the Journey girls could have pierced ears. I agree with you that the Journey Girls are much nicer than the American Girl dolls. Beautiful faces and having the breast plate instead of the full stuffed body is so much nicer. And of course the price is so much better too!
The only big downside of the Journey Girl dolls is their hair. It's just not as good as AG dolls. Our doll's hair is still fine because we take very special care with it, but it's not as tangle-free and easily stylable as the AG dolls.
If you want to rejuvenate the doll's hair – this works on any doll hair, by the way – just give them a little conditioning treatment. Because their hair is synthetic fiber, fabric softener works on it the same way actual conditioner works on human hair. So just wet the doll's hair, coat it with the fabric softener, let it sit/soak in for a bit, then rinse and let it dry. Doll's hair should be softer, silkier, and more easily managed.